reproof of Clara's behaviour to Sidney Kirkwood. Clara was not
disposed to admit freedoms of that kind; she half gave it to be
understood that, though others might be easily satisfied, she had
views of her own on such subjects. Thereafter Mrs. Byass grew
decidedly cool. The other girls with whom Clara had formal
intercourse showed no desire to win her confidence; they were kept
aloof by her reticent civility.

As for Sidney himself, it was not without reason that he had seen
encouragement in the girl's first reply to his advances. At sixteen,
Clara found it agreeable to have her good graces sought by the one
man in whom she recognised superiority of mind and purpose. Of all
the unbetrothed girls she knew not one but would have felt flattered
had Kirkwood thus distinguished her. Nothing common adhered to his
demeanour, to his character; he had the look of one who will hold
his own in life; his word had the ring of truth. Of his generosity
she had innumerable proofs, and it contrasted nobly with the
selfishness of young men as she knew them; she appreciated it all
the more because her own frequent desire to be unselfish was so
fruitless. Of awakening tenderness towards him she knew nothing, but
she gave him smiles and words which might mean little or much, just
for the pleasure of completing a conquest. Nor did she, in truth,
then regard it as impossible that, sooner or later, she might become
his wife. If she _must_ marry a workman, assuredly it should be
Sidney. He thought so highly of her, he understood things in her to
which the ordinary artisan would have been dead; he had little
delicacies of homage which gave her keen pleasure. And yet--well,
time enough!

Time went very quickly, and changed both herself and Sidney in ways